James Newcome

James advises on all aspects of pensions law for a range of trustee and employer clients.

James advises both trustees and employers of UK defined benefit and defined contribution schemes on a range of issues, including closure to future accrual, automatic enrolment, benefit redesign, scheme mergers, as well as liability management and restructuring of pension arrangements (buy-ins, buy-outs and bulk transfers to master trusts). James also has experience in drafting all forms of scheme documentation.

• Advising the trustees of a major UK property investment firm’s defined benefit scheme on the buy-in (£130m) of deferred and pensioner liabilities with a major insurer.
• Advising the trustees of an internationally leading paints and coating manufacturer’s defined benefit scheme on their de-risking strategy for the scheme, including its journey plan towards securing buy-in of the scheme’s liabilities.
• Advising one of the largest international video hosting services around salary sacrifice issues concerning its UK group personal pension plan.
• Advising the trustees of a multinational air transport and IT communication’s providers defined benefit scheme on all day-to-day trustee support queries, including in relation to a benefit rectification project.
• Advising a former senior executive of an internationally leading IT services firm in relation to a historical unregistered employer financed retirement benefits scheme, including the pensions implications of the annual allowance and former lifetime allowance.

Member of Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and APL Communications Sub-Committee.

Volunteer adviser to The Pensions Ombudsman.